Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnamese karatekas on May 18 brought home two gold medals in the women’s kata and kumite categories on the first day of competition at the 31st Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games 31).

Nguyen Thi Phuong pocketed the first gold medal in the women’s Kata event, while Nguyen Thi Ngoan secured the second gold in the women’s Kumite 61kg category. 

Yuda Ahmad Zigi Zaresta of Indonesia won the gold medal in the men’s Kata event. 

The gold medals in the men’s Kumite 60kg and 67kg categories went to Supatra Ari of Indonesia and Hari Sankar Sureeya Sankar of Malaysia. 

Chandran Shahmalarani from Malaysia won the gold in the women's Kumite 50kg event.

Concluding the first day of karate competitions, the Vietnamese, Indonesian and Malaysian Karate teams took home two gold medals each.

In addition, the Vietnamese athletes also fetched two silver and two bronze medals.

The Karate competitions are taking place from May 18 to 20 at Ninh Binh Gymnasium in the northern province of Ninh Binh. The Karate teams are competing for medals in 15 events.

At SEA Games 30 held in the Philippines in 2019, Vietnam won two gold, three silver and six bronze medals, ranking third after Malaysia and Thailand./.